Known for having one of the best economy rates till date, Rameshchandra Gangaram 'Bapu' Nadkarni, is a former Indian all-rounder who played 41 Tests for India.

Nadkarni's cricket career started with the Rohinton Baria Trophy where he represented Pune University in 1950/51. He made his first-class debut for Maharashtra next year and his first century came against Bombay two years later. In that game, Nadkarni scored an unbeaten 103 and also added 103 for the last wicket with Sadashiv Patil.

He got lucky when he was picked to play New Zealand in Delhi in 1955/56. He got this break only after Vinoo Mankad decided to give himself rest for that match. He made an unbeaten 68 but remained wicketless even though he bowled 57 overs in the match. When Mankad came back, Nadkarni was left out of the side. However, he was made the captain of Maharashtra the same year.

Nadkarni was famous for bowling accurate line and lengths, making it difficult for the batsmen to score off him. His economy rate of 1.67 in Tests is one of the lowest ever. In the 1960/61 series against Pakistan, his bowling figures were exceptional: 32-24-23-0 in Kanpur and 34-24-24-1 in Delhi. However, if that was not enough, he went on to record the best economy rate in a Test innings soon after.

These record figures came against England in Madras (now Chennai) in 1963/64. At the end of day three, his figures read 29-26-3-0. He finally finished with figures of 32-27-5-0 and bowled a record 21 consecutive maidens or 131 dot balls in that spell. His record stands even today. In the final game of the series, he made 52* and 122*, his only hundred in Tests.

In his next game against Australia in Chennai, he produced his best bowling performance, taking 5/31 and 6/91 in the match. With the emergence of Bishen Singh Bedi, Nadkarni was dropped from the tour of England in 1967. He was, however, selected for the tour of New Zealand and picked up his career-best 6/43, helping India win the game in Wellington. He announced his retirement from first-class cricket after that trip.

Nadkarni played 192 first-class games and made 8880 runs at an average of 40.36. He also took 500 first-class wickets during the course of his career, averaging just 21.37.

By Sidhant Maheshwari